service, you can take a small piece of that product, also known as a splinter, and sell it à la carte. The key is to offer a piece of your service that can stand alone at an incredibly low price.
An example of a company that uses this approach is Fiverr, an online marketplace that offers tasks and services starting at $5. Figure 3-7 shows one of these Fiverr services, which include creating business logos. This is an excellent example of offering part of a highly sought-after service at a deep discount that will help turn a lead into a customer and can ultimately lead to more sales. After a person has bought from you, he’s likely to buy from you again.
Source: https://www.fiverr.com/gfx_expert2/create-retro-vintage-logo
FIGURE 3-7: Through Fiverr, larger services can be splintered into smaller, single projects.
Because you’re breaking out a part or splinter of your service, you don’t have to create a new service. Instead, you’re offering a portion of an existing product or service.
Brainstorming “little victories” to offer your leads
Because deep-discount offers are low priced, low risk, and highly desirable, they help your leads overcome doubt about your business or product. Less monetary risk is involved for the leads, so they’re willing to take a chance and become customers. However, it can be harder for a marketer or a business owner to overcome the self-doubt that leads may have about themselves or their ability to reach the “After” state that your product or service promises to take them to. That’s why the best deep-discount offers lead the customer to a “little victory.”
A “little victory” is something that helps inspire your leads and gives them confidence that they can accomplish whatever solution or goal you’re offering, as well as the confidence that your product or service will help to get them there. A little victory gives your prospects hope and a taste of achieving the whole thing — of making it to the other side of the tunnel, so to speak. Keep in mind that little victories are usually quick to achieve and help deliver value to your customer.
For instance, if you’re in the fitness world, you can offer a discounted, seven-day introductory class as a deep-discount offer. When describing the offer to potential buyers, you state that completing this first seven days is the hardest part of your program — because getting started is often the hardest part. If they can get through your seven-day program, they’ll know that the toughest part is behind them.
As you go through your products and services to determine which will make the best deep-discount offer, ask yourself what little victory this product or service can provide your customers. Brainstorm how it will give them hope, how it will help to get them over the hump of self-doubt. You should help your customers see that success is possible not only for the smiling customers in your testimonials but also for them, personally. This helps make your offer more potent and enable you to build positive relationships with your newly acquired customers.
Filling out the deep-discount offer checklist
Previous sections talk about the various forms your deep-discount offers could take and the importance of little victories. Next, look over the five-point deep-discount offer checklist, presented in the following sections, so that you can ensure that your offer can convert leads and prospects into buyers.
Point 1: Does it lower the barrier to entry?
To start, your deep-discount offer should be low risk. The offer shouldn’t be expensive, time consuming, or difficult to understand. The best offers at this stage are often impulse buys, like the pack of gum you grab while you wait in line at the supermarket. The price of your offer depends on your market. Leads shouldn’t have to pause to consider whether they can afford your deep-discount offer; the price should remove that barrier. Again, the purpose of this offer is not profit. A good rule of thumb is to make these offers at $20 or below.
Point 2: Is the value clear?
Make your deep-discount offer easy to understand. You want to be able to quickly explain the value and entice the lead into buying. Therefore, your deep-discount offer should not be complex. Impulse buys are not complicated offers.
Point 3: Is it useful but incomplete?
Point 4: Does it have a high perceived value?
As with the gated offer before it, use good design to create a deep-discount offer with a high-quality look and feel. You don’t want your new customers to feel ripped off; instead, you want them to feel as though the deep-discount offer they just bought from you was a steal.
Point 5: Does it have a high actual value?
Be sure that your deep-discount offer makes good on its promise and delivers value. This situation builds trust with your new customers, and when they’re ready to buy again, they will remember the positive experience they had with you.
Discovering your deep-discount offer
The offer you use to acquire customers likely exists inside your core offer, which is a higher-priced or more complex product or service. Your core offer is often your flagship product or service. Look at your core offer and see what piece or pieces can stand on their own. What can you splinter off and still deliver value with that piece?
Here are some questions to ask to help you discover your deep-discount offer(s):
What’s the cool gadget that your market wants, but doesn’t necessarily need? What’s your impulse buy? What’s your stick of gum?
What’s the one thing everyone needs, but doesn’t necessarily want? This can be a product or service that people know they need but aren’t exactly excited about. The product may not be “sexy,” but it’s critical to a process that people engage in. For instance, if someone has a candle-making hobby, the wick may not be as fun or interesting as the colored waxes or scented oils, but it’s an essential
